Ex-worker Admits Dumping Pollutants

December 11, 1991

CHICAGO — A former supervisor at a Northwest Side industrial firm pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating the federal Clean Water Act by pouring cyanide-laden pollutants down a drain in the plant in August 1989.

Andrew Neulander, 27, the wastewater treatment supervisor at P&H Plating Co., 3416 W. Belmont Ave., admitted emptying 4,000 gallons of the solution on the orders of his bosses, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Joel Bertocchi.

The bosses, Jeffrey Pytlarz, owner of the company, and his wife, Cheryl Emrich, the company`s former environmental manager, pleaded guilty last week. Officials blamed the dumping incident for killing some 20,000 fish in the Chicago River.